10.31.2011

What I Want You to Know: A Letter to My Daughter



I want you to know that I love being your mother
From the moment you were nestled into my arms the night you were born, I knew you were exactly where you were meant to be -- in our family. You have been my Little Love since that moment; my {literal} dream come true. I have taken, very seriously, my role to love and nurture and guide you. I have done a good job and I have done a bad job. I have succeeded and failed. I have tried to love you well. You have taught me right back how to love well. Because you, Sweet Girl, you love people well.



I want you to know that I love being your teacher
Sometimes it's challenging and sometimes it's downright frustrating, but I love those moments when your eyes light up because you've worked a multiplication problem in your head and come up with the right answer or when you quickly read through several sentences before realizing how well you're reading. I love watching you paint and create art. I love watching you slip away into a world all your own, where you mix colors into new hues that match the ones you hold in your dreamy mind. I love watching you use two or three paintbrushes at a time, because that's how eager you are to create.



I want you to know that I cherish my memories of your first few years
when you and I had lots of one-on-one time.
 
I have such fond memories of those years of nursing you, rocking you, feeding you, bathing you, dressing you, playing with you, snuggling you, reading to you, taking you for walks and watching you grow and learn and fall in love with the world around you.





I want you to know that I love watching you be a big sister
Sometimes you get overzealous and sometimes you act before you think, but mostly... mostly you are protective and sweet, compassionate and caring, adoring and a great friend to Natalie. You are a great friend to me, too.


  


I want you to know that I have fabulous ideas of how to teach you and how to raise you and how to ensure you feel as special as you are
Sometimes my energy runs out before I can make those ideas into realities, and I hate that. So we learn to modify. Maybe today I can't take you for a walk to the playground, but I can sit in a lawn chair in the backyard and watch you swing high into the air, your corn silk hair flying out behind you like streamers on a bicycle. Maybe I can't bake cookies today but I can sit with you and read Sarah, Plain and Tall and watch you fall in love with the characters of Caleb and Anna and Seal, the cat.


I don't know what God plans for marvelous you, Hannah, but I know they are marvelous plans.



I just want to take this moment to thank you for what you have taught me and for all the love you have brought to my life.

4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful leatter. Love the beautiful pics you included.

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  2. This is so sweet and so precious! What a good gift Hannah is for you!

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  3. Thank you so much, for sharing this part of your life. Blessings to you all!!

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  4. What a great letter for a great girl! She was such a beautiful baby, the first I ever held, and now she's a beautiful girl inside and out. I'm thankful for her influence on Nathan, and I'm honored to know her. Love you!

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